A Cleon Effect
by Zeff N Company
Summary: LxCxirl - “Cloud, Leon; Leon, Cloud – commence with the yaoi.”
1. Introduction

_Before Cups of Coffee, before the WRG series in dA even, there was a draft for the theme "Introduction" that involved a pair of cosplayers at a convention. This is that draft._

_(I'm not sure how well this will be received, so be sure to let me know if I should continue.)  
_

* * *

From the very moment I stepped into the convention hall, I knew this was a mistake. Yet, here I was, and with all the time, money and effort that went into the costume, it would have been a waste to not make the most of this. No matter how unnerving the others warned me this was about to get, I could at least… try.

I blinked, and suddenly a large – uh, homely – figure approached me, grinning around a hot dog as he or she waved jovially.

"Hi there!" a pitched voice chirped, answering the question, "I'm Sora!"

"Of course you are," I sent back her way.

"Be nice, _Cloud_," one of my companions spoke from the side. There was the usual exchanging of pleasantries before 'Sora' left to join a group at the far end of the hall. And that was only the beginning of this long, soon to be exhausting event.

"Are all conventions like this?" I called over the ruckus toward my colleague. He looked up over waving another exited fellow enthusiast away to answer the question.

"You're lucky – this one is smaller and a lot more peaceful than others I've seen."

"You can't be serious!"

"You've just not seen enough," he replied casually. "Just don't wander off on your own, so no one jumps on you."

I froze right there and nearly bolted the way I came. "…they _what?_"

"Exactly. Stay close so we can protect you."

I did not know if he was being serious, but I _did_ know it was a lot easier said than done. People were jostling against one another, and several times I nearly lost sight of the group as strangers emerged from nowhere to talk to me, most of who were either dressed as characters from the Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts games, or were simply after pictures, surveys or strange interviews. Still, there were exceptions…

"Did what I can only assume is an elf just…?"

"Make a pass at you?" another of my companions confirmed for me. "I think so. Somewhere out there, there _is_ a Link-Cloud following-" she sensed I was about to say something, and stopped me right away "_just_ because I can say it, doesn't mean I can explain it."

"Hey Roxas!" someone else from the crowd called to her. "Get over here! You gotta see this!"

"I'd better go see what our 'Axel' is on about," she joked, patting me lightly on the shoulders. "Stay put, alright? I'll be right back."

And suddenly, I realized they had done the exact opposite of what they told me moments ago. While I was proud to call myself a city kid, I wasn't all that comfortable being alone in this hall filled with semi-crazy people that seemed to think draping themselves all over you was the new trend. Picking at the cloth on my one black sleeve, I cleared my throat carefully – quietly – and shifted my feet.

Thankfully, she came back for me before anything too traumatic could happen, though her strange, strange smile should have warned me of what was to come. Before I could question her motives, she had grabbed my hand and hauled me through the crowd once more.

"You'll either thank me for this," she assured, "or spam my inbox with hate mail for weeks."

At first, I remained confused – the failing of a first-time cosplayer – and allowed her to lead me like a lamb to the slaughter. And then I saw what she meant, and agreed with her.

Standing in the center of a circle consisting of random Organization XIII members, SOLDIERs, SeeDs and whatnot… was…

"Cloud, Leon; Leon, Cloud – commence with the yaoi."

Half the nearest crowd was laughing. The other half was wolf-whistling and cheering. The Leon that stood before me blinked. I felt my own face redden before I yanked my hand from that of my once-friend.

"Expect the hate mail very soon," I muttered bitterly.

Given time to think about it, maybe I would admit that I was overreacting – after all, this was hardly the first time anything like this occurred at a convention, but I had _trusted_ that lot to watch my back. One second, they promised to keep potential grief away, and the next they dumped one in my lap. See if I ever took their invitations to go anywhere again.

"Hey Cloud, wait!"

Suddenly, there was a hand on my forearm. I turned to find that same Leon beside me. I was already irritated enough as it was, and I pulled my arm free at once. "My name's _not_-"

"The look says otherwise," the Leon rebutted smoothly. Quickly, hands came up in a plea for truce. "Which is a _really_ good look, I'll have you know. For a first-timer, you got that costume down pat."

"Listen, lady… sir…" Momentarily, my rant about getting picked up fell short as I realized something, "… good Lord, I can't even tell if you're a guy or a girl…!"

'Leon' chuckled, still giving me absolutely no clue at all. "I get that a lot."

"Really? Even without the cosplay?"

"My mother's not happy about it, either."

He – or she – wasn't really funny, but I was tired. I laughed with this strange person for a moment, and only then – with my head cooled off – did I realize I had been a bit of a wet blanket earlier. "… I'm sorry about my lousy attitude."

"Don't worry about it – before these guys dragged you over to meet me, I've had male and female Clouds, Seifers, Rinoas, Ultimecias and assorted others jump on me several times already."

"And you're okay with that?" I asked incredulously.

"Come in a cosplay, expect to be glomped," 'Leon' uttered sagely.

Again, I laughed, and whoever this person was, they laughed with me. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't such a bad idea after all. To be honest, this Leon did a really good job on their costume as well, and was admittedly… not bad looking. At least they were of a smart figure more befitting of the game character I knew so well by now.

"Well," whoever this was spoke again, "I'd better get back to our highly imaginative group before they attempt to pair me with anyone else for the night. Are you coming?"

"… I might as well," I admitted. "That Sephiroth there has my wallet."

"How do you know that old man?"

I shrugged to that before adding sarcastically, "he claims to be my dark side of the force and impaled me a few times."

'Leon' caught my drift quickly: "Should I save you from him, should you be saving me, or should we get him together?"

"Whichever it is, it'll give him more stuff to put on FFNet. I just _know_ it."

"I guess you don't mind being my new 'yaoi' date for now, then?"

I thought about it – in truth, there really wasn't much to lose. I was already here, already so much into this. I might as well have some fun.

"For now, then," I agreed at last, extending my hand their way. "My name is-"

"Cloud," 'Leon' finished for me, though they did accept the offer to shake. "There's plenty of time to exchange real names later."

I was smirking before I could catch myself. Whoever this Leon was, I was starting to like them already.

"Sure."


	2. Affinity

_Thanks for the support, everyone! I'm hoping to live up to the expectations - which means, I'll need to go back to research if I want to keep this going._

_So far, these chapters won't be all that long as compared to, say, Gunmetal, but I guess things are decided better by inspiration. Who knows: maybe I might get longer chapters later, maybe not._

_I'll keep my fingers crossed...!_

* * *

One hour. That was how long I had been persuaded to stay when I was first invited – or suckered in – to participate in this thing called "cosplay"; I just needed to hang with them for one hour, and if I did not like it, I could call it a day.

I checked my watch now and found I had been walking with our small pack for at least two or three hours. Funny… I didn't even notice the time pass me by like that.

In those hours, my newest acquaintance had yet to reveal their name, and probably got a kick out of leaving me guessing in their presence. To be fair, they had not asked for my name either, preferring what we had settled for since first meeting – I was still "Cloud"; he or she was still "Leon". And while it was pretty obvious that our mutual friend knew our individual names, "Sephiroth" deserved some credit for not slipping up even once.

"Hey, Cloud."

Huh?

"… Cloud…?"

A hand was in my line of vision, and I blinked. Before me, my older colleague seemed amused.

"What is it?"

"I said: you want anything from the Dealers' Room?" he repeated patiently.

I wasn't exactly sure what a Dealers' Room was – my own fault for not researching beforehand – so I could only shake my head. Maybe if I was lucky, I could find it and explore on my own later. As they left, the group's Axel pointed out an unoccupied bench to the side, and the lot of us promptly parked upon it. Through the buzz of the crowd, I thought I heard someone call my name. Before I could figure if it was, indeed, me that was being hollered at, I found myself jumped upon – this time, thankfully, by someone I knew and could forgive.

"Yuffie, there you are!"

"Hi, Roxy!" she chirped from my lap in response, waving enthusiastically at the girl that was to our immediate left. Then she went right back to me. "Lookit _you_ – if only I knew you were going all out as Advent Children's Cloud for your first time, I'd have smuggled in a shuriken!"

"Gee," I replied, "thanks, I guess."

"I've got _pictures_!" Axel sang out proudly. In an instant she had her attention upon him, despite remaining conveniently planted on my lap. The digital camera traded hands, and after a few soft beeps, she predictably squealed… right into my _ear_.

"Aw-w-w-w-w-w-w!" she cooed loudly – too loudly, I decided – "You found a Leon!" then, at closer inspection, "…a _hot_ Leon!"

"Easy, girl…" Before I could say anything else, she proceeded to tackle me in a fierce hug.

"I'm so _proud_ of you! My sweet ever-lovin' Sissy is making all my Cleon fantasies come true…!"

"Don't be ridiculous," I chided, just about ready to stand up and drop her to the floor.

"_C'mon_, think about it: you'll fall in love with him, he'll fall in love with you, and _POOF!_ You're living happily ever after, surrounded by brand new little Soras gumming your ankles."

"Kid, I've seen _way_ too much of Sora to last me until the next game," I retorted, having shudder-worthy flashbacks to the very wide variety of Soras that passed me by earlier. "And I really don't appreciate you pairing me with a stranger just because of our costumes."

"Hey, it could happen!" she insisted merrily. I sighed.

"I don't even know him," then, as I remained with a tinge of regret, "… I don't even know if it _is_ a 'him'…"

"… Seriously…?" And she was staring more intently down at the camera's small screen, studying the image with scrutiny. "… Yeah, I think I see your point. That's either a really convincing drag, or one blessed pretty boy."

"I know, right? I'm starting to think it amazing how I _still_ can't figure it out." That piqued her curiosity, and the ninja-for-a-day got off me at last to sit by my side.

"Did you ask?"

"… Sort of," I half-lied. "Leon just told me to assume whichever makes me more 'comfortable'."

Then I realized… perhaps that was it. Apart from our individual cosplay and all the history that went with the characters, we actually knew so very little about each other. If this was Leon's way of being friendly, I wasn't too sure how I felt about it – it wasn't entirely bad, but I would've appreciated being able to refer to my new friend as either one gender or the other, _specifically_.

Come to think of it… were we really even friends yet? What if this shared affinity lasted just as long as the convention and disappeared the next day like a strange dream?

My inner monologue was short-lived, as the pair returned with a few bags. Said bags were quickly emptied out and their contents distributed, revealing things such as manga, DVDs, tidbits, collectibles and strange souvenirs that the others promised would be rare outside of conventions.

Leon broke the seal on a box, and held it opening-first toward me in offering. "Pocky?"

The yaoi fan-ninja beside me decided that was funny, giggling as I rolled my eyes at her. Regardless, I reached in and pulled out a stick of… something completely unexpected.

"… This is Pocky?" I carefully asked, unable to take my eyes off the uniquely colored biscuit I pinched between two fingers.

"Black sesame flavor," Leon explained, pulling one out to study as well. "Our overly glorified mama's boy wanted to sample every new one he came across… never mind if this thing looks kinda like Cruella De Vil's cigarette holder with the ash still on it."

"Uh… huh…" And, unable to quite bring myself to taste this strange thing just yet, I probed further, "so what else did he get?"

"Everything except earwax and stuff on the ground," Leon deadpanned. "Those were out of stock."

Beside me, our Yuffie was laughing. I smirked and finally bit off the tip of the Pocky stick. The taste hit me, and my smirk disappeared.

"… I… guess this tastes okay," I slowly concluded. Already halfway through their stick, Leon was holding out the box again.

"Want another one?"

"No, thanks," I replied too quickly.

"Me neither," they replied empathetically, passing the rest of them along to anyone else with the right amount of curiosity. The casual tidbit-related conversation only lasted that long before my sister demonstrated her inner Yuffie and leaned forward.

"So _Leon_… are you a boy or a girl?"

There was a definite pause, Leon silently studying the honest face before them. They tilted their head to the side, feigning deep thought, before giving the answer I knew they would:

"Wanna guess?"

The pair continued a friendly banter – one that I knew would not yield any real answer. I found myself returning to where I had left off with my thoughts, wondering…

This stranger dressed as Leon, who wouldn't share their name or even their gender… Outside of the costumes and pretenses, would we be friends?

Did we _want_ to be friends?

I'd have the rest of the convention to find out…

* * *

_Sorry, but for now, Leon's gender shall remain my secret._

_But out of curiosity, what gender do _you_ think they are? (Let's see just how predictable I am...!)_


	3. Chance Lost

_Welcome back, folks. This one took a while, but more because I was in a particularly uncomfortable place (Chapter 4 was actually done before this one). At least from here on out, I'm back in my element. I hope you'll stay with me, despite the changes I've brought with this update._

_Anyway, thanks for your feedback in the reviews and the votes in the poll! They were very helpful in my decisions for this story, and I will continue to rely on what you have to say for whatever comes next._

_Disclaimer: there will be a certain phrase in this piece of which credit goes to Risachantag in deviantArt. Those who know her work, have fun finding it.  
_

* * *

Upon her late arrival at the convention, my sister wanted to see everything: the other cosplayers, the merchandise, the game room – there was a game room? –, any panels she could possibly sneak in on… _everything_. Unluckily for her, I wasn't ready to get up again just yet. Luckily for her, "Roxas" was more than happy to oblige in my place. With both girls off and about, the remainder of our group split into two without as much as a shift in seating.

I wasn't surprised that "Leon" – as he or she remained even now – chose to sit with me and our mutual… ally, instead of with the other pair that was not as familiar. Though, perhaps that in itself wasn't the greatest of ideas. By now, there had been just about enough flashes of light from photographers sneaking candid snapshots of a possible "Cloud x Sephiroth x Leon" sighting that I had grown too tired to bother myself with it anymore.

Just across from us, "Axel" and a friend of his dressed as Cid Highwind were engaged in the weirdest of rants I had to have heard.

"… He's gotta be one lightweight if he can be lifted with a katana clean _through_ his gut and not have it slice him in half. That thing can disintegrate _rocks_, but never him! He's _that light_…!"

I heard a frustrated sigh to my left. Right next to me, I enjoyed the uncharacteristic glimpse of Sephiroth, the mighty villain of near anything related to Final Fantasy VII, holding one of those new handheld game consoles in his hands as delicately as fine china and struggling almost pathetically with the controls. Sitting opposite us was Leon, watching with an equal measure of patience and amusement as the older man futilely attempted to survive the game he was playing.

"… I suck at this," "Sephiroth" declared upon his sixty-sixth defeat. The two of us burst out laughing, and his only retaliation was to wave a hand dismissively. "Hey, I already told you that time with Crisis Core – these new games hate me."

"You just don't play enough, old man," Leon retorted. "Have I mentioned how my neighbor's grandmother had no trouble?"

"Maybe dressing as a game villain is jinxing him," I suggested, earning a good-natured scoff in turn.

"Nah, if it did my PSP would have burst into flames."

"Okay, enough already," the butt of our jokes retaliated. "Look, I give up. Just take this thing off my hands."

Leon hummed in understanding and reached forward to accept the console offered back to them. With the game character of choice under more experienced thumbs, the "old man" as we dubbed him finally slouched back in his seat while muttering about a sore neck. No sooner had he raised his hand to rub at it when victory fanfare music suddenly played for the first time in the past half hour.

"Cecil lives once more," Leon declared smugly. "Sure you don't want to try again?"

"No, thank you," the old man grumbled back.

"Physics is like a magical unicorn idea to it or something."

"What in Hey-Susie does a magical unicorn have to do with any of this?"

"It's not important! I'm just saying, physics went down the flusher in every way with that one, never mind if it's 'Complete' _now_-"

Looking up over a cutscene, Leon tilted their head curiously at the ongoing debate we had been missing out on. "Exactly what _are_ they talking about over there?"

I shrugged. "Heck if I know. So far, I think they're trying to prove that Advent Children isn't, well, real."

The brunet paused the game long enough to raise an eyebrow in my direction. "… and the tagged on 'Final _Fantasy_' in its title…?"

"Probably the first thing they brought up." If either man heard us, they didn't show it. They didn't even pause.

"And then they threw him through the air! _All of them_! You know that picture in that art site… 'Cloud' something whazzat…?"

"You mean 'Cloud-tossing'?" It was then and only then when "Axel" and "Cid" turned their heads to stare back at us, more specifically at the one who had spoken up so innocently. Solemnly, "Axel" nodded while tapping a finger on the point in "Sephiroth's" direction.

"Exactly; thank you."

Quite suddenly, we were interrupted by a steady ringing. A mumbled "excuse me" later "Sephiroth" was digging into his coat and pulling out his mobile phone. A flip, a "beep", and then he exchanged some quick words before looking back at me.

"It's Amber on the line," he explained. "Your sister spotted some interesting merchandise she thinks one of us will want, but for that she needs money."

"I'll go," Leon offered, already getting to their feet. "It's the Dealers' Room, right?"

"Here," – I reclaimed my wallet and produced some notes from its depths – "this should cover it."

"Alrighty," – the notes swapped hands. – "Be right back."

"Thanks, Leon."

The brunet cosplayer disappeared back into the crowd that had yet to disperse, and "Axel" and "Cid" went back to ignoring us in favor of their debate. Handing back the wallet to the older man's safekeeping, I noticed the look on his face under the thin silver curtain of hair from the once impressive but now messy wig. I didn't have to question him about it; he was already speaking his mind.

"You're still going by your character names?"

"Well," I replied, "Leon still won't tell me his or her gender, and I'm not going to pry."

"And why not?" the older man probed.

"If Leon doesn't want to talk about it, I'm going to respect that by not poking at it."

"But you _are _going to mull over it," he argued at once. "Admit it – _you_'re the one who doesn't want to know. It makes you more comfortable to stay in the dark."

"You don't know that," I protested. He scoffed.

"Kid, I'm a writer by _career_. That makes me part shrink by nature, and so if I think I know, I _know_."

"And _I _think you're assuming too much," I fired back. I could hear my own tone getting defensive, though. "Besides, why do you care?"

"Let's see…" he dramatically paused for a moment before he continued his answer: "I'm not just your colleague, am I? I know you, and I know 'Leon'. That makes me your mutual company and also your middleman in times of trouble. _That_ means if you two get into something awkward, I'm suddenly your new messenger just because you can't talk to each other. I'm antsy now because I don't want to have to find new eating places just to avoid the both of you until you work it out."

"Muffins mean more to you than our friendship?"

"Those are excellent muffins, but don't change the subject." And "Sephiroth" finally gave up and pushed the faux hairs out of his eyes. "Your sister's fun to be around, sure, but I think your opinion matters more here. Taking from what I know, 'Leon' wants you as a friend as well, but doesn't know if you want to be friends with a girl or a guy."

I blinked, my curiosity getting the better of my defensive irritation. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if 'Leon'," – he was still making quotation marks with his fingers – "turns out to be a girl, it's suddenly too awkward for you to be buddies and go around treating 'her' like 'one of the guys', as you have been doing for the past hours. On the other hand, if 'Leon' is a guy, you're worried that any attraction – no matter which kind – you might be having toward 'him' means you're gay, and that scares you even more. Either way, things have to change."

Perhaps I should have argued the point then, but I didn't. Maybe it was because I didn't know what exactly I'd say to that point. Maybe it was because he was, to some degree, right. So I kept quiet, trying to think hard, to focus… what _did_ I want?

As easily as I could picture Leon as a guy, I could do the same as a girl. That bothered me, not being able to fix one gender role and stick to it. Leon was just… well… Leon. Fit neither here nor there.

"There's always the third path," "Sephiroth" suddenly brought up too casually. "You just don't bother."

It was my turn to scoff. "You mean we just go back to being strangers once we step out of here, huh?"

"Sure – we do that at business lunches all the time anyway. What's so different with this?"

"The boss hasn't asked me to make out or otherwise pose scandalously with my clients in front of rabid screaming people with cameras yet," I suggested bluntly, to which he chuckled.

"You've got a point there, kid."

"Hey look, they're back."

That was when I remembered that we weren't alone. "Axel" and "Cid" had by now finished their long talk, and the taller one in his black coat pointed out Leon flanking my sister and "Roxas" as they squeezed through the crowd and back to where we were. And my dearest baby sister was grinning madly and showing off something very large and very yellow in her hands.

"… Is that… a giant Pikachu?" I identified slowly. Confusion was an understatement at this point. "Billie, what the heck…?"

"But it's so _cute_!" the little ninja declared proudly, as though that alone justified everything.

"… I have nothing to say," I finally confessed, staring at the odd thing like it would explode. "Except that I don't want it, and it's not coming home with us under any circumstance."

"I'll take it," "Axel" offered almost gleefully. "Our head honcho will love this thing, and then I can pay you back in the office."

"Matt, the boss will kill you."

"That's only if she has clients in there with her. She'll love it, so gimme."

The giant stuffed animal went around, and that was when Leon suddenly seemed to remember something and looked "Sephiroth's" way. "Mr. Hunter, what time is it?"

"Sephiroth" fumbled for the watch he had pocketed and at last brought it out. "… I'm probably five minutes fast, but it's almost six-thirty."

"Thanks," then, just as quickly, to the rest of us, "Sorry guys, I gotta run."

"_Already_?" my sister whined, her hand still buried in the yellow fuzzy head of the toy she wasn't quite ready to part with.

"I've got an appointment to keep, and I can't afford to show up dressed like this."

"Need a lift?"

"Nah, I'm good," Leon replied. Already, they were busy grabbing a backpack and slipping it onto their shoulders. "This was really fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime."

A hand was stuck in my direction, waiting. I took it and shook firmly, and I had a smile to return the one sent my way.

"See you, Cloud."

"You too, Leon."

Then, with a final wave, the brunet left the group once and for all, disappearing amongst the people in the direction of the glass doors. Then, only then, did I realize my choice had been made for me.

Time picked for me: the third path.

_… Dang._


	4. Second Chance

_As precautionary: this story has been updated with two chapters, not one._

_Back to business: As you may have noticed now, the characters have their own "real" names and their own personalities. Dangerous for me, but as long as you'll have this story, I'll keep it going._

_(As a refresher, Axel is Matt, Roxas is Amber, Sephiroth is Mr. Hunter and Yuffie is Billie. Cloud and Leon have not been named, so if you'd like a shot at naming them do go ahead!_

_Disclaimer: Except for Mr. Hunter -Easter egg for those who know me well enough-, none of the above names belong to people I know in real life. They were randomly selected with only bias being match in personality.)_

_* Look out below for the footnotes.  
_

* * *

"… Dang it… _MATT_!"

"_WHAT?_"

"_Where's that script?_"

"_I'm working on it!_"

"_Hurry up! We need it right now!_"

"_I said I'm working on it!_ Sheesh…"

There was nothing like the ritual pre-lunch shouting match to bring one's mind back down to earth. Already, the events of the convention seemed a little more than a clouded dream… That is, once one overlooked the giant stuffed Pikachu still sitting in Matt's cubicle for no reason other than to annoy and confuse everyone in range. Just as most of us expected, our employer had refused to take it. Its current owner still paid me back so, apart from having a huge yellow distraction in the center of our office, things went pretty much back to normal.

Yet, there were differences now in how I looked at each of my colleagues, especially after having seen them in cosplay. It wasn't only their appearance that had been subjected to change with just one day of being someone else – their entire personalities had seen a shift then, and I wasn't about to forget that for a long time.

A soft tone sounded from my computer, bringing me back to my present state of being. Checking it at once, I found a message from Amber: an attachment of all the photos taken between herself, Matt and my sister during the aforementioned convention. Seeing all those costumed figures anew, it still felt strange to relate them to the people I worked with, and I couldn't help smirking as I scrolled the page, looking over each one in passing…

Then I found the one isolated cluster amongst them, and suddenly I wasn't smirking as much.

"Oh hey, you found it." Elbows perched on my cubicle wall, the lovely lady who had once been "Roxas" peered over my shoulder at the screen. "It's too bad we didn't get that kid's name, huh?"

I huffed in response as I skimmed the photos with Leon to reach the next cluster. That, however, was a long way down. "Why'd you take so many of these?"

"Actually, Matt and I only got the first few," she admitted. "Billie took the rest while you weren't looking."

My finger slowed down then, giving me time to examine the latter photos and accept the statement. "… With or without a costume, she really is a natural Yuffie, isn't she?"

"Hey, she's _your_ sister. Whoa, heads up…!"

No sooner had the warning been issued when our senior approached my cubicle. Looking at him now, mild-mannered Mr. Hunter seemed the other end of the pole from the psychotic character he had been dressed so convincingly as before. Short, neatly combed dark hair framed the face of a kindly father – though we knew the man to be single – and the only thing he had in common with his "alter ego" was his daunting height, the same height that enabled him to easily look down at me now – and across at Amber – from the wall between us.

"I'm getting my grub at the coffeehouse. Either of you want to come with?" he offered, as he usually did at this hour. This time, I took his offer.

"There's that amendment my client wanted, I still need to run it by you." With a hum of acknowledgment, he nodded and beckoned me to follow.

"Hey Sephiroth," Amber suddenly piped up, still perched on the wall and conveniently out of reach. "Could you get me a blueberry muffin? I _love_ those."

At once Mr. Hunter cringed, though that was really the worst he did in his protest. "Stop calling me that. The convention's over!"

"Your friends online call you that!" she pointed out cheekily.

"That's different!"

As though to prove him wrong, Matt paused his script's progress long enough to play _One-Winged Angel_ over his speakers. The boldness in that move, I could only give credit to his brief stint as the loudest Nobody of Organization XIII. With a huff, the older man strode by the Pikachu-laden cubicle and directed a warning finger at the culprit.

"Knock it off, _Axel_, and you still need that script in as soon as possible."

"Unlike you, I happen to _love_ my new nickname," the lanky one retorted jovially. "Bring back a chocolate cappuccino for me, will you?"

"After what you just did…? _No_." And insistent to tune out any further protest, he motioned for me to hurry up. "We'll have a long drive and equally long queue time to settle that amendment issue of yours, but we need to go now or we'll be late getting back."

"Yes sir."

True to his word, the drive and a quarter of the queue time were sufficient to thoroughly discuss what to do with my client's request. Untrue to his word, the big softy was already verbally reminding himself to get an extra blueberry muffin and a chocolate cappuccino to go. I hid my smirk quickly when he turned to ask me what I'd like, and instead declined the offer as politely as I could.

"New diet?" he joked.

"New puppy," I corrected. "And until my sister finishes training it, I can't go home with as much as a _crumb_ on my body or else the thing starts jumping all over me."

"A-ah… speaking of your sister, can I ask why she calls you 'Sissy'?"

It was my turn to cringe, except for an entirely different reason. "That would be under the 'embarrassing childhood incident' list."

The three words of that statement explained everything, and my colleague did not comment on the subject any further after that. The queue crawled along, each order seeming to take longer than the last. By the time we got to the counter, I was more than grateful to see the small white card with a marker-scrawled number on it slid to us by the exhausted cashier. Even if it meant more waiting, at least we got to do _something_… like sit. Or read.

"Mr. Hunter!"

Or notice a vaguely familiar face in the crowd approach us waving. It was a young man of at least part Asian descent, with a head of thick tousled black hair and a pair of semi-rimless glasses on the bridge of his nose. He seemed smaller with the oversized safari jacket he was wrapped in, which did not help much against the much taller man he was greeting. But my senior seemed to recognize him at once, from that softened gaze of his.

"You're later than usual. By now, I figured I'd have missed you." At the comment, he shrugged.

"They nearly wouldn't let me out even for this…! If _they_ didn't have to eat, I'd probably still be-" he stopped short, and the brown eyes behind those plastic lenses focused on me at once. "… _Cloud_? Man, is that you?"

"He doesn't know you with that thing on your face, you know…"

Without warning, Mr. Hunter reached forward and stole the young man's glasses right off his nose. Just like that, I saw the face that had been in so many of the photos I was still looking at earlier in the same day. The eye color was different, the scar was gone, but that face was still vibrant in my memories.

"_Leon_," I identified at last. Before I knew it, I was grinning from ear to ear as I instinctively stuck out my hand. "Man, how _are _you?"

My former partner-in-cosplay needed a second to retrieve his eyewear before he could shake, and in turn answer. "Oh, you know, wage-earning slave to the industry, oppressive regiments… the usual. What about you?"

"Well, you know…" And quite suddenly, I realized at once the revelation that was dropped in my lap, as I stared at Leon with an entirely different light.

Before me was a guy. _Leon_ was, without a doubt, a _guy_.

As though reading my mind, Leon chuckled bashfully. "Oh yeah, I never did clear that up before I left, did I?"

No, he did not. At least when he wore those glasses, he looked a little more masculine… okay, more boyish than masculine, but it was still something. But already, I could sense the awkward tension starting to drop on us, and a change of subject was in order to keep it at bay.

"You know," I quickly brought up, "we got a lot of pictures from that convention. Have you seen them yet?"

He shook his head, smiling gratefully as he replied verbally, "I'll have to check my mail, see if they're there."

"They aren't," Mr. Hunter interjected from above our heads. "I haven't sent them yet."

"Oh…"

"I'll send them," I offered at once. "Can I get your email?"

"Here," he paused to swipe a napkin from the dispenser and scribbled an address on it before handing it over. Just as he did so, a number was called that caught his attention quickly. "That sounds like mine. Guess I'm running off again."

"No problem." And I meant it. Tucking the napkin into my pocket, I offered my hand a second time. "It's great to see you again, Leon."

"You too, Cloud," he answered. We shook, he grabbed his order, and then we were parting ways once more.

"See you online?"

"Sure."

Though this time, it was not as permanent as I had thought. For some reason, I was happy about that.

Another number was called out, this time ours. With the satchel of fresh hot muffins in my hand and the paper cups of steaming coffee in Mr. Hunter's, we too left the coffeehouse and returned to his car.

"_So_…" he suddenly declared, "now you know."

"… Yeah," I agreed, still smiling.

"And what are you doing to do about it?"

What was I going to do? It was obvious. First, I would send those photos, and maybe add a little comment somewhere. Then I would… I would…

My smile froze.

I had no idea what I would do.

* * *

_Yes, that's right. As the poll decided, Leon and Cloud are both guys._

_Keep sending me feedback - or voting in the new poll - on what you'd like to see happen from here on in. I'll be looking forward to it.  
_


	5. Let's Make a Date

_Hey everyone, look what's back! So far, I'm keeping with my trend of no breaks in between chapters - which means they're still short, I know. On one hand, it makes updating easier, since I only need to focus on one scene at a time. On the other hand, it means I have to make each one count._

_But all in all, I'm glad you're sticking with me and still reading. I'll be back with another update, hopefully soon.  
_

* * *

Mr. Hunter never did ask me again about the pictures or anything that had to do with Leon; he was too busy anyway: the "worst nightmare" of a client he shared with Amber had come through the door once again, and he had spent the last of his daily working hours – and his patience – talking to the impossible man over what he wanted. And whenever it was that guy came around to grate on Mr. Hunter and Amber's nerves, it was every man for himself; while Matt grew increasingly frantic over his script, I took off as quietly and quickly as I could before he could cry for help. Served him right anyway, for running this late.

So it was some hours later when I finally got home for the evening, and still I had no idea what I would do… at least, about Leon. Then I found myself distracted by yet another thing that I had no idea how to handle on my own. A very annoying, yapping thing.

"Billie, your dog!" I shouted over the chorus of shrilled yips behind the wooden barrier. "If I open this door and it runs off, I'm not chasing it."

A few seconds later, my sister answered the call of warning. She would not have answered if I was too laden with groceries to even reach the doorbell, but for that mutt she'd do anything.

"Z-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack," she called. "Come see Mommy, Zack!"

The yapping stopped, and a clatter of toenails indicated an all-clear for me to go ahead. Only then did I open the door and enter the apartment. Still squatting on the floor, Billie was fussing over the ugly ball of uneven hair, huge rolling eyes and dripping tongue that was her puppy. Those wide, bulging eyes focused on me once again, and the creature wriggled furiously to get at me. I swear, once I find out what on earth I'm doing to motivate that thing to like me this much, I'm putting an end to it.

"Is that our dinner?"

"_First_ thing out of your mouth…" I muttered, but all the same I laid out two packets of food on the table: the usual noodles, but with all vegetables and no meat until that thing stopped begging or jumping for scraps. At the rate the training was going, I might as well become a vegetarian. It didn't seem to bother the girl one bit, and she eagerly pulled out a pair of clean forks from the drawer and proceeded to hand me one. The clueless animal was rolling at her feet in displays of begging, and again there was the whining. Always the whining.

"So how was work?" she asked over the sound, as though it were not there.

"Same as usual," I answered.

"Have the pictures come in yet? You know, from the con."

I had been expecting that question. "They're with me – I'll show you later." – I jabbed my fork in her direction. – "Your turn: how's your homework coming along?"

A shrug. "It's fine."

"You're sure."

"Sure!"

It was my turn to shrug – I'd leave the nagging to our experienced mother when she calls to check on us this weekend, as usual – and then I went back to eating. It was far from a quiet affair, what with the persistent whining and whimpering, but it was otherwise mostly peaceful. We finished in silence, settled who would take the trip to the garbage chute over a round of rock-paper-scissors… all the usual activity that I came home to every evening. It was a welcome distraction from thinking when I needed it.

Of course, it did not last long enough.

"Kid, hands off. Now."

"Pictures!" she insisted in turn.

"Fine, but wash your hands first. You _know_ where they've been."

In the time it took her to obediently trot off with a puppy at her heels to wash up, I got the old clunker that was our computer going, with the added moment of privacy for my password before she came back. And just as I had expected, she wanted to see the photographs she took before Amber's or Matt's.

"You're proud of yourself, aren't you?" I commented lazily in an accusing tone; she merely responded with a pleased hum. "If this were anyway _but_ a convention, you could offend someone."

"Lighten up, will you?" she retorted, leaning in closer to get a better look at one of her admittedly well-taken candid shots. "Do you think that's Leon's real eye color?"

"They're contacts. His eyes are brown."

At once she had turned on me, her eyes so bright that I wondered what I had just done to myself. "You met Leon again?!"

"… Sure, during lunch earlier. He was at the coffeehouse that Mr. Hunter brought me to."

Immediately the girl was on me, demanding details with the speed I thought only possible with a high quantity of sugar in the system. "You met Leon? I-R-L?! What is he like? What does he _really_ look like? Was he wearing a wig or did he change his hair color? Is it still brown? No wait, more importantly – _Is he really a he?_"

"Okay, okay! Get off!" And after I succeeded in forcing my sister to return my personal space, I answered: "Leon is definitely a boy, and he was wearing a wig during the convention. As for what he actually looks like, you're finding out when and _only_ when you get the chance to meet."

"Aw…" she whined. Then, a little too quickly for my liking, she leered. "You're keeping him all for yourself, aren't you?"

"That is _not_ funny," I protested. "It was cute when you were Yuffie, but you're not Yuffie now. You're Billie, and you will act in a proper dignified manner that is not creepy."

"You're not fun." Quite suddenly she paused, thoughtful for a second. Then she voiced that thought: "Did you tell him your real name? Or better yet, did you get his?"

"Not yet," I admitted, turning back to the computer. "Though, I'm thinking I probably should-"

"_NO_!"

There was a surprised yelp and skittering at our feet, a clatter of the chair, and quite suddenly I was sprawled over the beanbag chair with a college girl's weight pinning me to it. Her eyes were wide as she yelled at me in a tone that was either panicked or urgent as she grabbed fistfuls of my good shirt.

"Don't tell him! _Never tell him!_" she cried out, a sharp sound that stabbed at my ears. "And don't let him tell you his name either! That way you can be Leon and Cloud forever! _My dream lives on within you!_"

I blinked. Very slowly. "… Should I tell Mom that you're getting too much sugar, or too much into Kingdom Hearts? Or maybe it's both?"

She stopped, calming speedily. "You wouldn't."

"Get off me right now, and maybe I'll consider it. I have stuff to do."

Relaxing, realizing my threat was not serious – not _really_ – Billie stuck her tongue out at me childishly before getting off me and retreating to her room. As I pushed off the beanbag chair – about half of the beads inside probably flattened by now – I turned to find that fat lump of puppy was still sitting there with its wide bulging eyes staring at me.

"… What are you looking at?" I asked, if only for the sake of asking. Then, with a dismissing wave of my hand, "go away."

Apparently the only command that dog understood, the mutt skittered and slid over the floor to follow after my sister. At last, my privacy returned to me, did I right the chair and seat myself once more. Reaching into my back pocket, I found the folded napkin with Leon's address written on it. Setting it down in front of me, I typed the address into the right input box to forward the mail in his direction.

No sooner had I done so when the messenger I forgot I was auto-signed in to blinked at me with an alert. One click later.

**[There you are.]**

I smirked, realizing who it was on the other end. **[Hi again.]** I answered. **[Just sent the pictures your way.]**

**[Cool. Thanks.]** A few seconds passed, and then, sure enough, **[Wow. There's a lot of me in there. XD]**

**[Yeah, I know.]** I replied. **[My sister's doing.]**

**[She was Yuffie, right?]**

**[Yeah.]**

**[Ah.]**

**[She's a fanatic over Kingdom Hearts.]** I explained. **[Especially the Cleon pairing. So, as you can see…]**

**[That I can. XD]** Even without the text emote, I could imagine him beside himself with amusement. **[So does she know about me yet?]**

**[Somewhat.]** I admitted. **[But she doesn't know what you really look like just yet. She's pretty eager about it, though, so expect an invite for dinner some time.]**

**[All about the Cleon, isn't it?]**

I sensed that last question was rhetorical and did not answer. At least he understood… I hope. It's hard to tell when you can't see the other's face. Still, he was the one to change the subject:

**[You know, I'm shooting hoops with Mr. Hunter come Friday. Would you like to join us?]**

**[Sure, if it's ok.]** I answered.

**[I'll let him know, and he'll let you know, but we all know he can't say no. XD]**

I laughed, both aloud as well as within my typed comment. I could feel myself relaxing, actually looking forward to it. A game of hoops sounded good – what better way to start off as friends?

**[Just so you know]** I warned him anyway, **[I suck at basketball.]**

**[No worries. So do we.]**

Who know how true that comment was, really? Sure, Mr. Hunter did not look like the sort to play basketball, but he did not look like the sort to dress himself in a black coat and wear a long flowing wig of silver either.

Relax, I reminded myself. This is just a casual game between three people, not an international event.

Then, on that note, **[Be careful when you ask. He was dealing with a difficult client today, so he might be in a pretty bad mood.]**

**[The indecisive one from hell?]**

**[That one.]**

**[Ah.]** A bare few seconds passed before he was typing again. **[Hey, I gotta go. I promised my brothers I'd take them down to the store before it gets dark.]**

**[You have brothers?]**

**[Two. Remind me to tell you about them next time.]**

**[Alright. See you, man.]**

**[You too, Cloud.]**

He went offline, and I signed out of my account. As I skimmed over our brief conversation, I realized something with a laugh: not once did he attempt to ask or give a name. It seemed Billie got her wish after all. At least, for now.

As for the game…

"Mind the house, Billie," I called down to her room. "I'm going to the court."

"What for?" she called back.

"Basketball practice."

If I was going to socialize, I refused to embarrass myself.


End file.
